Melodies of Life - Final Fantasy IX Novelization
by vinhill104
Summary: Novelization of Final Fantasy IX, looking to finish a chapter a week. Open to feedback of any kind! I ve begun to read a fair amount of these Novelizations and its a little frustrating to see things word for word, it works well for a game but describing expressive PS1 animations with translated script from Japanese gets a little off after a while. Anyway, hope you enjoy!


FINAL FANTASY IX

Melodies of life

Chapter One -

_The Plot_

The Prima Vista II was the grandest ship to sail the Mist Continent. Her rich yet round oak belly of a keel was fat and slow, the elegant towers that stretched from the decks in golden spires were weak and her guns and canons were long removed many years before. She wasn`t a ship built for war or adventures. But a grand ship.

"A fine ship the Vista is!" shouted a patron of the King`s Head Tavern, "A ship that wasn`t made or built I say!",

"_Wasn`t made or built?!_ Well it didn`t just pop out of the mist now did it!" Jeered back Alleyway-Jack, a four-armed card player,

"No, no, no; she was _crafted and conceived." _He said quietly, "Gold and silver nails she has, thick silk sails too! A ship that magnificent doesn`t belong to any place I`ve ever seen!" he took another sip of his ale,

"Well my friend, the world is much bigger than this tavern`s bar!" said Jack banging both his right hands on the wooden surface.

The Prima Vista was so fine crafted in fact that rumors were said that her insides were as awe striking as the outside, a ship with no birth that forever lingered in the mist, only to descend to the cities of the world on the rare occasions. Legends that were often remembered by children and adults alike as they watched the horizon to greet the golden ship cutting through the mist towards them with the stone masthead at her front carved into the likeness of a sea maiden with the wings of an angel.

These stories were passed down through the many generations, stories of every beam and rivet inside to be carved and embroiled in a floral matrix of beauty throughout, rich furnishings for the crew and talented-performers to rest, practice and dine in an endless luxury above all the upper-classes of the world. And performers she had; for the Prima Vista was a theatre ship! A ship without a Galley at her rear for a captain to dwell but a round and open stage where people would watch into from the expensive seats or the surrounding rooftops where common peoples sat with cupped ears and tears in their eyes from the beautiful stories that were being performed there. Everyone knew of the plays and productions of the Tantalus Troupe, for they showed the drama of love, war and loss. The plays were as famous as the ship. Not because the plays were new and refreshing, but perfected and masterfully presented.

She was fully booked in every major city in the continent for the next decade, travelling from one place to another, across the ever lingering mist that erupted from the dark corners of the world. However, the mist that flooded the valleys and seas was far from an inconvenience for the inhabitants throughout the world of Gaia for it was above the mist where the Prima Vista sailed along with most other airships and small wind boats throughout the world. The Vista herself had four mist engines and eight propellers to keep her aloft as she sailed through the slow ebb of pale clouds that lay below in an ocean above the deep cracks and valleys that remained hidden where few lived. The world was a tall place with many of its cities and towns sitting above the mist on islands of flat summits with an ocean of mist where creatures of unknown origins scurried in thick forests and across the cold colorless grasslands. The mist never receded or thinned for reasons nobody knew in all the history of the world but what they did was that the mist was there to stay, and stay it would. Forever surrounding the cities and towns peaking above in a peaceful view that was a marvel to all.

One of the cities held aloft was that of Alexandria. A fair sized city compared to others that was nested on a shelf of land in the north-east part of the country. Royalty ruled these lands which stretched out over a third of the continent and it was plain to see from the pale castle that rose out of the stone and clay city with a glimmer of sword`s edge that stretched from the ground and through the spires to the clouds giving the castle the look of a hilt with four steeples around it. Neighboring cities would often speak of the clear days above the mist where the thin slither of light was sometimes caught and could be seen from many miles away where the castle of Alexandria was ever present.

Rivers trickled down from the even taller peaks around the city where they riddled their way under the old cobbled streets to form a large moat around the castle, through the other side of the city and over the edge of the cliff where the pale mist consumed it below without a sound of a river of lake to be heard. People knew of a forest that thrived below there, often an airman was lost which gave it an ill name and an ominous presence which lead many airships to avoid the forest and take another path through the mountains towards Alexandria.

This didn`t phase Zidane Tribal as he looked over the stern of the Prima Vista in hopes to get a quick look of the malicious forest with seldom success. He had heard tale of how the forest could be seen to move in the mist with branches whipping back and forth, grabbing rouge wind boats from the sky and dragging poor souls to their ends, stories which Zidane now shrugged off as fables invented by the stage-hands for their own entertainment as he saw the still branches flicker by.

Zidane was blonde-haired, young, and a very peculiar boy. Not because he had a tail much like a monkey that hung to his ankles, nor the fact that he could leap higher than anyone else he had ever met; it was that at only sixteen he was a cast member onboard the Prima Vista. A rarity of odds which for many that would outclass even his tail, or so he had thought. Even more peculiar however, were the secrets which the Prima Vista would keep inside of her, a secret wielded by Zidane himself and the rest of the crew. For all the rumors and legends of a luxury ship would be so far from the truth that if the Mist Continent knew who the Tantalus theatre troupe really were, there would be no more myths and legends of the great Prima Vista and her plays to remain.

The wall of waterfalls that fell off into the mist was getting near. Zidane took the moment to look over the city of Alexandria for the first time in over a year. The last time the ship was here was when they had performed the nations favorite play; "I want to be your Canary", Zidane rolled his eyes at the thought of doing the play yet _again_. All because the Alexandrian mascot was a canary, a light colored bird that was domestic to these parts had made the repetitive play a formality, a fact which frustrated Zidane to which he believed the rest of the country were likely bored of the same play themselves. In fact he knew it was for many of the smaller airships that approached alongside the Vista were that of nobles. Upper-class, fan-waving people from the neighboring city of Treno, they had reserved over half the seats for many of them (as irony would have it) had never seen their capitol`s favorite play for Treno welcomes different productions every time. Zidane pushed this frustration aside quickly for he knew that Tantalus had other reasons for being here.

The castle was turning a pale orange and you could see the circular moat that span at least a mile from the castle to the city, the water glimmered and the sword reflected off the sun as it set down into the west behind a thick bar of the mountain ranges where realm of Alexandria ended. The Prima Vista drew a last breath of the day into her engines from the mist and she rose up out of it and over the great wall. Here was the vast view of the sea of houses. Light brown and red clay rooftops could be seen to the edges of the city all of which were ablaze with color in the setting sun.

Below, Zidane could see the children running along the streets chasing the shadow of the Vista as it darkened the streets in an enormous eclipse that slithered over the paved stone. The Alexandrian`s were often jeered at and called `Roof Dwellers` by the neighboring nations which was simply the strange but unavoidable nature of the city. The name brought no offense for it wasn`t too far from the truth. Leaders of the past had always insisted the castle be prominent on the skyline of the city in rivalry to another city to the South-West, restricting houses to three stories or less, a characteristic which made the city unique in many ways.

Besides the few courtyards containing monuments, the stone streets were narrow and cluttered with rural industry; cloth makers, carpenters, smithies, synthesizers, potion makers and much more- this left little room for the young Alexandrians to play which forced them to the rooftops where they could be seen from the streets as they ran over the loose planks that bridged the rooftops together. It was here that Zidane could see people on their tiled rooftops, young and old waving at the stone sea maiden as the Prima Vista prepared to dock in the castle walls. The capitol of the country was by far the friendliest city that Zidane had known, for regardless of all its industries it was still a very calm city. Friendly, unchanged and rurally quiet. All of which seemed excessively boring to the teenager.

Zidane made his way to the lower levels of the ship where he giggled to think about the people below that believed the inside of their ship was lined with gold, only to know himself that the place in reality was a cluttered mess with no elegance to speak of. Rolled up backdrops, costume rails and props from other plays could be found almost everywhere under a thick layer of dust, so much in fact that the stairwell to the south side of the ship was filled with so much junk that it forced the crew to slide down the emergency poles that were scattered around where they had to turn back out through another stairwell to exit. The joints of the ship were old but solid as she often creaked as the mist shifted her from side to side, she was indeed a fine ship; just not in the way that others thought her to be.

In the bowels of the ship, Zidane entered a dark room where the actors were summoned for a final meeting. With the port-holed door closed behind him he felt around with the little light that streamed through from the candle lit hallway to find the small table in the center of the room, a table he had walked into on too many occasions. Here he struck a match from the table and put the flame to each of the six candles in an old brass holder there.

The small cargo room flooded with light from the candles to show costume racks, pictures and props flickering into view. The room had three doorways to it leading to different sections of the ship making it a good meeting spot for the crew on any occasion, this was extended with the large rug that housed the group`s coat of arms; a large heart incased with feathers behind rich lettering of `Tantalus`.

Surprised with himself to be the first of the crew to arrive for the meeting he took a moment to have a loud but satisfying stretch where his attention span was spiraling off into the rafters.

"Who`s there?!" came a muffled voice from behind a wall,

"It`s me!" said Zidane. The door to his right suddenly flew open and a stream of people filed into the room,

"Late as usual." Jeered Blank, a blind boy with wild red hair that took to seeing through means unexplained. With that the group saluted with their palms to fists; the Tantalus salute.

"Depends how you look at it…" defended Zidane,

"How you look at _what_ exactly?" asked Cinna, a rounder teenager with stage makeup that blacked out his eyes, "You`re late, it`s that simple."

"No, It depends how _you_ look at it." Replied Zidane with a point of his finger playfully, "For example; you have a watch, and I don`t." Cinna gave the others a perplexed look "I`m on time because I have no time, so it all depends on how _you_ look at it."

"You`re so full of crap." Said the square-jawed Marcus, the eldest of the four. "Have you seen the boss?"

"He isn`t here yet?" exclaimed Zidane, "-man, he rinsed me this morning to be on time for this."

"Err, You`re _not _on time." fired Cinna looking at his pocket watch provokingly. Just as Zidane opened his mouth to speak a tremendous bang shook the room, the four spun around to the last doorway at the top of the stairs where there stood a large but menacing figure which none of the crew recognized. The remnants of a kicked down door crashed down to the bottom of the steps where from the top the monster had jumped and landed loudly before them.

Zidane froze when he saw its face, a deep blue scaled surface that flared with every rough breath it drew, it`s eyes a wicked amber that locked onto them as it churned a tight grip on a rigged blade in its claw.

"Gahh!" Cried Cinna bolting towards it with a mallet in his hand ready to fight. The other two had drawn a sword each too to join the fray and without realizing it; the dagger that was holstered on Zidane`s side was in his own hand. The beast gave a hollow but gut wrenching roar and stepped out of the way of Cinna who swung at the air, with a strong and swift arm, the monster had thrown Cinna into the steps where he slid down to the ground on his oversized stomach in an unconscious heap.

"Fellas…" said Marcus quietly nodding to the others. Marcus and Blank circled to the monster`s sides with tight grips on their swords. They swung at the same time with no avail, one clawed fist knocked Blank to the ground while the other parried with a deafening clash of iron on Marcus` sword. As the monster turned to Marcus in full attack, Zidane took his chance and dived with his dagger. Too quick and strong, it simply gripped the blade with his scaled and slippery claw and knocked the dagger clean from Zidane`s hand where it growled angrily, but Zidane was ready as he ducked the second attack which had brought Cinna to his heap and rolled through monster strangely human-legs to his face the monster`s back. Without stopping, Zidane jumped to the height of the ceiling when he drew another dagger from the concealed sheath on his back and drove it swiftly into the beast`s head where it let out a howling squeal. Swinging its arms in a painful defeat it collapsed to its knees, it was here where the howl suddenly cut out to what sounded like a man bawling.

"What the…" said Zidane watching the monster clamber at its own face with its claws,

"Okay, OKAY!," it shouted suddenly. Marcus looked wide-eyed at Zidane who looked back speechless,

"It speaks…" muttered Marcus,

"Yeah it speaks! Take it easy you guys!" Cinna came too just in time to see the monster pull off its own pierced head to reveal a plump goggled face with a pink beard only to faint once again.

"Hey fools!" said the main removing the claws from his hands.

"Should have known it was the boss." Said Blank standing up rubbing his chest,

"What do you think?" said Baku presenting the dragon`s head still moving slightly on the ground with its eyes flickering on and off. "Top of the line from the Mages, I was thinking we could use them for next month`s play in Bermecia." Marcus sheathed his sword and gave the head a slight nudge with his foot. The boss was otherwise known as Baku, a large man that towered over everyone else on the ship, he was known for his hard ways and his ridiculous laugh which echoed through the ship cheerfully on every occasion.

"Gwahahaha!" he laughed loudly at Cinna on the ground. "You boys are getting bolder; looking much better too" he complimented approaching Zidane.

"Team work." Said Zidane grinning. Baku gave him a slight smile then lunged his closed fist at Zidane`s chest. For a moment the teenager stood still but quickly fell to his knees with a wheezing cough,

"I told you not to be late." Said Baku playfully, "Let`s start this meeting already." He gave out another howling laugh and walked into the room where the others had come from. Zidane caught his breath the best he could as Marcus and Blank heaved Cinna to his feet.

"But- he was….late too." gasped Zidane finally.

Like the previous, the dimly lit room was cluttered. Pipes and wires snaked through the room and into large boiling tanks at shook idly on the wooden floor. A large round table sat in the middle where make shift seating from trunks and boxes surrounded it. On the walls were maps and building plans pinned up with hand written notes and check lists. Zidane sat down on the only chair that was backwards in the room and observed the scale model of Alexandria castle that was sat in the middle of the table. The others sat down promptly still groaning a little in pain.

"So here`s the deal." Baku started with a serious tone setting in, "Tantalus, the infamous band of daring thieves-

"That's us." Joked Blank,

"…Is headed to Alexandria castle-

"The castle?" We`re not doing the play in the usual spot?" Asked Marcus,

"Nope. We have a special request from the Queen herself." Confirmed Cinna who seemed to know more than the others,

"Okay… So what`s the job?" Asked Zidane lifting his chin from the chair back excitedly, "Royal Jewels? Treasury? Rare weapons?",

"Our mission is to Kidnap the air to the throne; Princess Garnet." The room went quiet, some waiting for a punch line to the joke.

"….Seriously?" asked Blank, "We can`t trade a princess. The whole army and the Knights of Pluto would be after us for the rest of our lives!"

"Let me worry about that." Said Baku sternly, "She`s a request from much higher up. We just need to get her to Lindblum before the Queen Brehne realizes it was us, and hand her off." The room fell silent again.

"…It could work, if we do it while the play is on they would never suspect us." Contemplated Marcus, "If she is just a hand off that is. Random to the Queen is…well, impossible."

"Well, I`m game." Said Zidane promptly,

"Why doesn`t _that_ surprise me?" laughed Blank, "You wished buddy!"

"What?!"

"_Oh I don`t know_? The fact that Princess Garnet Til Alexandros the 17th just happens to be the most beautiful girl on this side of the continent has what? -Nothing to do with it?" Zidane smiled deviously and shrugged as he slouched back into his chair.

"Hey, I`m a gentleman."

"Offering Airship rides on the Vista for kiss exchanges isn`t gentlemanly; it`s-

"Alright, I`ll take over from here." Started Cinna, after clearing his throat he stood up holding a scale model of the Prima Vista began to move it slowly towards the table, "We`re about to doc with the castle, we have all the formalities to get through before we start `I want to be your canary` so listen up, we won`t have much time-

"I`ll take the roll of the lead character. So leave the stage to me" interrupted Marcus,

"I`ll take crowd control with Zidane." Joined Blank,

"Leaving Zidane with the actual kidnapping." Finished Baku. They looked back to Cinna who was frozen in place with the scale model of the Vista still in his hands looking displeased,

"Yeah… That's the gist of it." He said putting the model on the table.

"Okay, let`s go over the details and get this done." Finished Baku, "Hopefully we`ll be in the sky in a few hours with the princess stowed away before they even realize what has happened." The group of Bandits looked wearily at one another for a moment while Cinna began to unroll plans and schematics of the cattle walls, the plot was underway…


End file.
